Angela Merkel to step down as German chancellor in 2021

Most powerful woman in the world, Angela Merkel has
announced she will quit as German chancellor when her mandate ends in
2021, as she sought to draw a line under a series of political crises
that have rocked her fragile coalition.

Taking
a decisive step towards the end of her political career on Monday, the
veteran leader who has led Germany for 13 years said she hoped her
planned departure would end bitter fighting in her coalition and finally
focus it on its task of governing Europe’s biggest economy.

Today, it is time to begin a new chapter, she told reporters at her party headquarters.

Referring
to the quibbling within her coalition that has sent it from crisis from
crisis, Merkel noted that “the picture that the government is sending
out is unacceptable”.Electoral
drubbings like the latest on Sunday in the state of Hessen were “a
watershed, but in them could lie a chance”, Merkel said, for Germany’s
mainstream political parties including her own to find a way forward.

Merkel,
64, will stagger her political exit by first giving up the leadership
job of her Christian Democratic Union in December, which comes up for
re-election during a party congress in December.

She added that
she would not stand in Germany’s next elections nor seek to renew her
mandate as chancellor when her fourth term ends in 2021.

At least four candidates declared their interest to seek Merkel’s job after she made her stunning announcement.

But she said she would not name a successor.

I will accept any democratic decision taken by my party, she said.

Often
hailed as the world’s most powerful woman and Europe’s de facto leader,
Merkel’s power has been on the wane since her 2015 decision to keep
Germany’s borders open at the height of Europe’s migrant crisis,
ultimately allowing in more than one million asylum seekers.